Differentiation of species in Gonioloboceras

The type specimen ofGonioloboceras goniolobum (Meek), rediscovered by Spath in the British Museum, is the foundation for a more accurate comparative study of this and other species ofGonioloboceras.Gonioloboceras described asG. goniolobum byElias in 1938 is differentiated asGonioloboceras schmidti, new species. Suture sets (new term) for several growth stages inG. goniolobum (Meek),G. welleriSmith,G. schmidtiElias, G.eliasiMiller &Owen, andG. asiaticumLibrovitch are assembled and used for differentiation of the species.The Kazakhstan goniatite faunule containingG. asiaticum is considered of very late Pennsylvanian age.     

Effect of small doses of X-rays on formation of colour variants bySerratia marcescens

1. (1)
   Клетки Serratia marcescens, которые выжили после повторных облучений лучами Х, при новй однокртном облучении процент цветных мутантов. Процент мутаций возрастает в зависимости от дозы облучения ночти линейно.     

ECOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF REPRODUCTIVE TRAITS OF MEXICAN RAIN FOREST TREES

Sexual systems of 139 tree species from a tropical rain forest at Los Tuxtlas, Mexico were investigated to: 1) estimate the relative proportions of hermaphroditic, monoecious, and dioecious species; 2) describe flowers, fruits, and seeds in terms of size and weight; 3) describe flowering and fruiting phenology; and 4) correlate sexuality to pollination and dispersal syndromes, and the successional status occupied in the forest. Hermaphroditism occurred in 63% of the species, monoecism in 9%, and dioecy in 27%. Nondioecious species had larger flowers, but dioecious species had more seeds per fruit. The dioecious condition was associated with small flowers pollinated with unspecialized insects and fleshy fruits dispersed by animals at both species and generic levels. Reproductive traits were more correlated among nondioecious species than dioecious species. Pioneer species had more seeds per fruit, and longer flowering and fruiting periods, but persistent species produced heavier seeds and fruits. Flower and fruit morphological traits, sexual systems, and tree guilds are related in a comprehensive way, and a flow model based on data from this study is presented.     

Effect of different doses of chromium picolinate on protein metabolism in infant rats.

This 12-day study was conducted to evaluate the effects of three different levels of dietary chromium (100, 200, and 500 microg/day) in the form of chromium picolinate (CrPic) on growth and protein use in weaned rats. No significant effect of CrPic on body weight gain, food intake, or food conversion rate was observed. Elevated doses of CrPic seemed to increase muscle mass, either by stimulating protein anabolism by activation of insulin by chromium or by lowering protein degradation. However, these effects had no repercussions on overall growth, suggesting that any anabolic effect of chromium due to the action of insulin was probably marginal.     

Reconstructing the Pleistocene geography of the Aphelocoma jays (Corvidae)

Understanding historical distributions of species and evolving lineages has been a topic of considerable interest, yet methods used to date have not provided detailed, quantitative distributional hypotheses. Here, we present a technique based on models of species’ ecological niches and Pleistocene climate reconstructions that provides such hypotheses, providing the example of reconstructions for the Aphelocoma jays. We demonstrate in general a greater degree than expected of stability in jay species’ distributional areas back through at least the most recent glaciation event, and that existing patterns of genetic differentiation may date to before the Late Pleistocene glaciations. More generally, the method offers the potential for reconstructing historical distributions of species or lineages, and providing a detailed geographic framework for addressing many biogeographic and systematic questions.     

Conformational changes induced by cloxacillin in class a beta-lactamase from Bacillus cereus.

Class A beta-lactamases are enzymes that hydrolyse beta-lactam antibiotics such as penicillins and cephalosporins. They also hydrolyse substrate analogues such as oxacillin and cloxacillin, with a biphasic kinetic as it has been reported for Bacillus cereus beta-lactamase. A molecular model of Bacillus cereus beta-lactamase was built and the conformational changes that the substrates benzylpenicillin and cloxacilline produced in the conformation of selected regions of the protein were analyzed. This study was performed using the docking of the substrates, their tetrahedral intermediates and the corresponding acids on the active site, followed by molecular dynamic and subsequent optimisation procedures. The most important changes were produced on Tyr105 and Tyr273, when the tetrahedral intermediate of cloxacillin was docked at the active site, these amino acids are partially responsible for the stabilisation of the substrates at the active site. These changes may explain the kinetic differences observed during the hydrolysis of substrates type S and type A by beta-lactamases class A.     

Selectivity of pyruvate kinase for Na+ and K+ in water/dimethylsulfoxide mixtures.

In aqueous media, muscle pyruvate kinase is highly selective for K+ over Na+. We now studied the selectivity of pyruvate kinase in water/dimethylsulfoxide mixtures by measuring the activation and inhibition constants of K+ and Na+, i.e. their binding to the monovalent and divalent cation binding sites of pyruvate kinase, respectively [Melchoir J.B. (1965) Biochemistry 4, 1518-1525]. In 40% dimethylsulfoxide the K0.5 app for K+ and Na+ were 190 and 64-fold lower than in water. Ki app for K+ and Na+ decreased 116 and 135-fold between 20 and 40% dimethylsulfoxide. The ratios of Ki app/K0.5 app for K+ and Na+ were 34-3.5 and 3.3-0.2, respectively. Therefore, dimethylsulfoxide favored the partition of K+ and Na+ into the monovalent and divalent cation binding sites of the enzyme. The kinetics of the enzyme at subsaturating concentrations of activators show that K+ and Mg2+ exhibit high selectivity for their respective cation binding sites, whereas when Na+ substitutes K+, Na+ and Mg2+ bind with high affinity to their incorrect sites. This is evident by the ratio of the affinities of Mg2+ and K+ for the monovalent cation binding site, which is close to 200. For Na+ and Mg2+ this ratio is approximately 20. Therefore, the data suggest that K+ induces conformational changes that prevent the binding of Mg2+ to the monovalent cation binding site. Circular dichroism spectra of the enzyme and the magnitude of the transfer and apparent binding energies of K+ and Na+ indicate that structural arrangements of the enzyme induced by dimethylsulfoxide determine the affinities of pyruvate kinase for K+ and Na+.     

Angiotensinase activity in hypothalamus and pituitary of hypothyroid, euthyroid and hyperthyroid adult male rats.

A local renin-angiotensin system (RAS) that may be involved in their regulatory functions has been identified in hypothalamus and pituitary. Altered thyroid status induces modifications in the secretory function of hypothalamus and pituitary. However, few studies have analyzed the role of the RAS in hypothalamus and, to our knowledge, there is no data on the pituitary RAS during thyroid dysfunction. In the present study, angiotensinase activities (glutamyl, aspartyl and alanyl aminopeptidase: GluAP, AspAP and AlaAP, respectively) were studied in hypothalamus and in the anterior and posterior lobes of pituitary of euthyroid, hypothyroid and hyperthyroid adult male rats. In the anterior pituitary, compared with euthyroid and hyperthyroid rats, hypothyroid animals showed a highly significant increase of GluAP and AspAP activities; the percentage increase in GluAP was markedly higher than the percentage increase in AspAP. This suggests an increased metabolism of angiotensin (Ang) I and Ang II to des-Asp 1-Ang I and Ang III, respectively. We also observed an increase of Ang III-degrading activity (AlaAP) in the hypothalamus of hyperthyroid rats in soluble fraction. Increased Ang I and Ang II metabolism in the anterior pituitary of hypothyroid rats and increased metabolism of Ang III in the hypothalamus of hyperthyroid animals may be related to alterations in the secretory function of hypothalamus and pituitary in these thyroid dysfunctions.